Put it in the bank
by AFS on Feb.25, 2009, under the industry
Looks like the notorious Annie Leibovitz is in an unfortunate situation.
Rumors of bankruptcy and late payments have been circulating around Annie L. for years now. And according to the New York Times (2-23-2009), Annie Leibovitz, one of the most successful editorial and commercial photographers in the business recently had to borrow $15.5 million to pay off debts and such.
And what did she use as collateral? Oh, her three West Village town houses, her country home in Rhinebeck NY, and * the rights to all of her photographs.* Scary.
“In other words, according to loan documents filed with the city, one of the world’s most successful photographers essentially pawned every snap of the shutter she had made or will make until the loans are paid off.”
(nyt)
Quotes from this article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/24/arts/design/24artloans.html?_r=3&pagewanted=1
WOW. Hard to believe that a photographer who commands staggering day rates and whose career seems to just keep going up and up could end up where she is today.
So, I guess the moral is, do not live beyond your means. If you can, save your money. Put it in the bank until you really, really, really need it.
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March 8th, 2009 on 4:48 pm
Some more information emerges about Annie’s predicament:
“what struck me about her story was that most of her financial woes stemmed from her inheritance of her long time partner, Susan Sontag’s, estate….As Suze Orman pointed out in her Valentine’s Day wish for gay marriage, same-sex couples do not have the same privileges as straight married couples when it comes to inheritance. If your partner passes away and leaves her estate to you, you have to pay up to 50 percent of the value of your inheritance in taxes. However, if you and your partner were recognized as a married couple, you wouldn’t have to pay a dime. And it is precisely this unjust double standard that got Annie Leibovitz into financial trouble.
When Sontag died in 2004, she bequeathed several properties to Leibovitz, who was forced to pony up half of their value to keep them. ”
Read the whole article in the After Ellen Blog here:
http://www.afterellen.com/blog/juliamiranda/annie-leibovitz-is-in-a-jam
September 7th, 2009 on 3:28 am
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